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Study: Colo needs clear rules for parolee alerts

DENVER (AP) - An outside review says the Colorado prison system doesn't have clear guidelines for how officers should respond when electronic alarms indicate a parolee is breaking the rules.

The review, released Friday, was prompted by the March slaying of the state prisons director and another person, apparently by a parolee who cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet but wasn't pursued for days.

The review by the National Institute of Corrections recommended the state clarify its electronic monitoring rules, improve training, develop better plans for individual inmates and transfer inmates less often, among other changes.

Rick Raemisch, the new prisons director, says the recommendations are being implemented.

After the March deaths, the prison system added a requirement that authorities respond more quickly to alarms indicating a monitoring bracelet was tampered with.